Career Center | Ready or not, retirement usually happens

By Tim Grant / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Many people have surrendered to the idea that they will “work until they drop,” especially if they haven’t saved enough money to retire. The problem with that strategy is that a high percentage of

Career Center | Giving feedback? Avoid delivering a 'praise sandwich'

By Alina Tugend / New York Times News Service Most of us think we know how to give feedback. Positive comments are better -- and more useful -- than negative ones. And if you do have to point out something

Career Center | Is using a recruiter right for you?

By Kristin Kalning / Special to NWjobs When Andrew Edmond left his job last summer, he didn’t immediately look for another one. But when he was ready to get back out there, he went straight to his network of recruiters.

Career Center | Age-discrimination law needs beefing up, critics say

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune Suppose I'm a business -- and what a handsome business I'd be! -- that's interviewing people for a job opening. There are two finalists, one 27 years old, the other 52. They have similar

Career Center Blog | Grapevine better bet than Vine for hiring success

I've gone on record before about saying that video resumes are not always the best job-seeking method for several reasons. Mostly it's because they worry HR people about potential discrimination lawsuits, and they don't present much more useful information beyond

Career Center | Family and Medical Leave Act still helps some, but not all

By Cindy Krischer Goodman / The Miami Herald In the struggle to balance our family and work lives, one law has made a giant difference for 35 million American workers -- the Family and Medical Leave Act. In February, the

Career Center | What employers want from job seekers

By Dawn Dugan / Salary.com The competition is fierce in today’s job market, and standing out in the crowd is more important -- and challenging -- than ever before. How do you know you’re giving employers exactly what they are

Career Center | A call for human decency in hiring, job seeking

By Diane Stafford / The Kansas City Star Job hunting is stressful -- more stressful than it needs to be when some simple human decency is missing. First, though, a couple of reminders. As a job hunter, keep telling yourself

Career Center | Pushing back on workplace bullying

By Sam Hananel / The Associated Press Margaret Fiester is no shrinking violet, but she says working for her former boss was a nightmare. “One day I didn’t do something right, and she actually laid her hands on me and

Career Center | Sick time: What employers can do about the flu

By Joyce E.A. Russell / Special to The Washington Post The flu season arrived earlier than usual this past fall, and it has been widely reported as one of the worst in a decade. According to the Centers for Disease

Career Center Blog | The importance of building a culture of respect

Earning respect isn't always easy. Nor should respect be something only subordinates are forced to give managers. To better compete in this global economy, a key strategic objective of executive teams and human resources managers should be creating a culture

Career Center | Companies that hire people with disabilities tout benefits

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune One of the best experiences of my life was watching Jamie Smith, a young man with autism, leave his routine in Chicago, travel to the Special Olympics World Games in the chaotic Chinese city

Career Center | To curb workplace violence, employers should plan

By Gabrielle Banks / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Schaun D. Henry was leading an onsite training session on violence prevention in the workplace when a stranger barged into the room, headed straight for him and threatened: "I have a gun." The participants

Career Center | Unplugging: Some employers helping workers disconnect

By Tanya Mohn / New York Times News Service In this age of hyper-connectivity, some companies are adopting policies aimed at weaning employees from their electronic devices. Atos, an international information technology company, plans to phase out all emails among

Career Center | What's that new number on my W-2?

By Diane Stafford / The Kansas City Star Look closely at your new W-2 form this tax season. Notice Box 12 and a two-letter code, DD. If you work for an employer with 250 or more workers, information in that

Career Center | Keep employees by keeping them happy

By Marie Stempinski / Tampa Bay Times Is your most important asset about to walk out the door? Studies show that seasoned, trained and productive employees -- your most important assets -- are increasingly feeling trapped and dissatisfied in their

Career Center | Q&A: Misguided manager botches worker reviews

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: My boss and I have very different opinions about the performance of two people who report to me. She refused to sign their annual appraisals until I lowered the ratings and

Career Center Blog | Cliff diving: What's trending for '13 recruiting?

This weekend, we stand on the precipice of a new year. Some people might call the 2013 threshold one small step on the journey to recovery. Others might call it a giant leap over a cliff — a fiscal cliff,

Career Center | Q&A: Whose side is HR department on?

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune Q: Do you believe HR departments are there for the benefit of the workers or the employers? A: I've had to deal with human resources only once in my life (apparently some people didn't

Career Center Blog | How to make a case for 'workflex' policies in your office

In August of this year, Glassdoor.com released a list of the top 25 companies in terms of work-life balance, as voted on by their own employees. Kent-based REI (ranked No. 6) and Seattle's Slalom Consulting (No. 15) were the two

Career Center | Don't overlook inside candidates, research suggests

By Diane Stafford / The Kansas City Star As president of the Society for Human Resource Management of Johnson County, Kan., Sue Christopher writes regular newsletter messages to the membership. The biggest reaction she has ever received came this past

Career Center | At some firms, smokers need not apply

By Renée C. Lee / Houston Chronicle Smokers beware: Puffing away could reduce your chances of landing a job, particularly at a hospital or a health-care facility. Methodist Hospital System in Houston recently announced it will implement a tobacco-free hiring

Career Center | Tips for making good open-enrollment choices

By Claudia Buck / Sacramento Bee Like a sore tooth, choosing your health care plan can be a real pain. Confusing choices, funny-sounding acronyms and rising premiums are mind numbing. But one thing is clear: If you're fortunate enough to

Career Center | What the #@!%* is wrong with workplace swearing?

By Natalie Singer / Special to NWjobs We all know someone guilty of it. Every workplace has one. Some do it well; others seem addicted. And then there are those of us who want to try it but are just

Career Center Blog | 8 job-search tips from the other side of the desk

Several days ago, I had the pleasure of hosting an event where three local hiring managers agreed to share their thoughts on the job-hunting process with a group of my clients going through career transition. These three individuals -- a

Career Center | Survey: Fewer employers using credit checks to screen applicants

By Diane Stafford / The Kansas City Star Long-term job hunters whose credit ratings have suffered may take heart from a new employer survey that found less use of credit background checks. The Society for Human Resource Management reports that

Career Center | Let's get on board with paid leave for new parents

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune We are living in the Golden Age of hypocrisy. There's an obesity epidemic, and we're baking hot dogs into pizza crusts. People spend tens of thousands of dollars on off-road vehicles that will never

Career Center Blog | No easy answers for delicate EEOC questions

Ask any recruiter or hiring manager about what elements of a job seeker's profile they don't want to touch with a 10-foot pole and their likely answer is anything covered under the purview of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Career Center Blog | Restoring balance to the background-check process

In this age of hyper-security, many job seekers over the past decade have found themselves subjected to an increasing number of background checks during the interview process. Before 9/11, most background checks were reserved for positions that involved the control

Career Center | Boards of directors remain male-dominated

By Ann Belser / 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Why aren’t there more women at the very top of the corporate ladder? Nationally, just 16.1 percent of the directors of Fortune 500 companies last year were women, according to a study by Catalyst,

Career Center | What a career coach can — and can't — do for you

By Anita Bruzzese / Gannett You decided to hire a career coach because your job search was stuck. Or perhaps you felt your career needed to head in a new direction. But several months after meeting with your coach, you’re

Career Center Blog | Summer work attire: flip-flops, tube tops and Speedos, oh my

With so much rain and gray all fall and winter, an early spate of sun and warmth is all we need around here to go a little crazy. You know what I mean: Shorts as soon as the temperature hits

Career Center Blog | Advantage employee: Worker confidence on the rise

Seattle's current run of consecutive outstandingly beautiful weekends is not the only sunny news to hit the Puget Sound region in recent weeks. As the afternoons grow longer and the temperatures get warmer, there appears to be a gradual and

Career Center Blog | Keeping face when interview demands go too far

As I've written before, social media are essential tools to ensure that your expertise can be viewed by a wide variety of employers; however, Facebook should not be one of them. The 845-million-member network that spawned a Hollywood blockbuster cannot

Career Center Blog | Hey, boss, it's dark here: Bring on the Vitamin D

When I was a kid in grade school, a cart was wheeled from classroom to classroom every day. The cart carried two things deemed, by the powers that be, critically important for our developing bodies and minds: Milk and fluoride.

Career Center Blog | Do you really know what your references are saying?

It's one of the basics of job search: You have your killer resume, a multitude of networking contacts and a rock-solid list of three to five references to help back up your past performance. But do you really know what

Career Center Blog | Getting the right name can get your foot in the door

We've all seen various versions of the same statements in most job listings: "Send cover letter and resume to the following e-mail" or "Upload your resume to our jobs page." It all seems like a well-oiled machine, and it is

Career Center Blog | How to wield the double-edged social recruiting sword

Social media is here to stay! Tweet your way to a new job! Use Facebook to meet hundreds of new contacts! ... From the look of many job-search advice columns, it would seem as if the use of online social

Career Center | Done right, rewards can motivate employees

By Joyce E. A. Russell / The Washington Post Have you ever seen the episode of "The Office" in which Dwight Schrute tries to motivate the staff by awarding "Schrute Bucks" (fake money with his picture on them) for good

Career Center | Please show courtesy to job applicants

By Joyce E.A. Russell / Special to The Washington Post We all know how critical it is for applicants to exhibit and maintain great manners when applying for jobs. But it’s just as important for employers to be courteous

Career Center Blog | Career Inception: How to conduct a 'stealth search'

In Christopher Nolan's hyper-cerebral 2010 film "Inception," a gang of nefarious agents go to great lengths to plant subliminal ideas in the heads of powerful people to make them feel as if they created the ideas on their own. After

Career Center Blog | Time to clean out unproductive networking contacts

Last November, talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with many people when he announced his second annual National Unfriend Day, which encouraged people to delete certain "friends" from their Facebook pages who are not really their friends. You know

Career Center Blog | 2012 advice: Hold your ground on benefits

The Great Recession has been over, technically, for more than two years now, but everyone knows that it's "over" only in the minds of economists. In the real working world, where talented, qualified job seekers often take a year or

Career Center Blog | Criminal background checks: By the numbers

Last week's latest job figures showing an overall increase of 216,000 jobs last month and a four-year low (8.8 percent) for the nation's unemployment rate was undeniably terrific news for job seekers. This is some of the strongest evidence since

Career Center Blog | Want a job? Stop sending your resume (until you learn a few tips)

For the last three years, the biggest complaint I hear is, "I'm frustrated. I'm still putting out resumes daily with no response." Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Are

Career Center | Prescription-drug use an issue for employers

By Katie Zezima and Abby Goodnough The New York Times Lawrenceburg, Tenn. -- The news, delivered by phone, left Sue Bates aghast: She was losing her job of 22 years after testing positive for a legally prescribed drug. Dura Automotive

Career Center Blog | Do we really need anonymous peer reviews of workers online?

Maybe you've heard about Unvarnished, the new social networking site that allows peers to review past and present colleagues -- anonymously. [Image by RubensLP] Think LinkedIn meets Yelp. Only unlike LinkedIn, Unvarnished -- which is still in private beta

Career Center | Ex-worker: Genetic test led employer to fire her

By Steven Greenhouse The New York Times Pamela Fink, seen during a media interview at her home, says she was targeted after telling bosses of test results. (Douglas Healey / AP) After one of her two sisters was found

Career Center | Able to work: Consider when to reveal disabilities to prospective employers

By Susan Kreimer Associated Press JUPITERIMAGES Experts say it’s better to wait to bring up a disability until it becomes relevant to do so. Pat Leahy’s resume is sprinkled with relevant skills and achievements. Although he doesn’t note his

Career Center | Fitting in fitness: Effort, creativity can make workouts possible for busy workers

By Cody Ellerd Bay Special to NWjobs CODY ELLERD BAY Rebecca Pellman works out with her personal trainer, Mike Hardin, using cat toys and books as props in her Seattle home. While the end of 2009 found 10 percent

Career Center | Climate control matters heat up in offices; agreements ease friction

By Patricia Montemurri Detroit Free Press DETROIT — Holly Myles begins her workday with a heating pad on her lap, wrapped head-to-toe in a fleece blanket. She wears gloves; she is sure that if she didn't her hand would

Career Center | More immigrants finding better job prospects, higher pay back home

By Kristin Collins McClatchy Newspapers RALEIGH, N.C. — A Duke University researcher says the United States may no longer be the world's only land of opportunity. According to a study released this month, immigrants from India and China are

Career Center | Balancing the health of company, workers

By Cindy Krischer Goodman Miami Herald Todd Friedman, president of a Miami marketing firm, was taken aback when a senior director handling several major projects told him she needed time off. The woman explained she would be undergoing cancer

Career Center | Why companies facing layoffs are on the hunt for new hires

By CAROL HYMOWITZ The Wall Street Journal Companies typically shed talent rather than search for new or additional employees during periods of economic slowdowns. That could change, though. Even as they contemplate layoffs, many companies also are hunting for

Career Center | Hiring interns for free labor is a no-no

By KATHERINE REYNOLDS LEWIS Newhouse News Service KRAIG SCATTARELLA / THE OREGONIAN Kevin Platt, left, works on a project with Thom Schoenborn during Platt's first day as an unpaid intern at Pop Art, an Internet marketing agency in Portland.

Career Center | Rising employer premiums threaten employee health coverage in state, AARP finds

Kyung M. Song Seattle Times health reporter Eroding health coverage A NEW AARP SURVEY of 407 employers in Washington found ominous signs that workers may have to contribute more to keep their health-insurance coverage. Among the findings: Cost sharing:

Career Center | Fingerprint Scans Replace Clocking In

By DAVID B. CARUSO Associated Press Writer It's happening at Dunkin' Donuts, at Hilton hotels, even at Marine Corps bases: Employees are starting and ending their days by pressing a hand or finger to a scanner that logs the

Career Center | Put down the iPod, stop texting and do your job

By Stepfanie Romine The Cincinnati Enquirer Tapping out an e-mail on your BlackBerry under the conference-room table. Resetting your ringtone to your favorite song. Keeping your Bluetooth in your ear at a business lunch. Think no one noticed those

Career Center | Condos find new office space

Eric Pryne Seattle Times business reporter ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Barbara Jacobson-Nickerson is selling space at the Ship Canal Office Center, a building in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood that was renovated for office condominiums. Condominiums aren't just places

Career Center | Employee benefits begin to include pet insurance

By Candice Choi The Associated Press AP PHOTO/JEFF CHIU Bob and Bobbie Stanton walk their shelties Colby, 5, left, and Tyler, 3, outside of their home in San Bruno, Calif. Bobbie Stanton is one of about 15 or 20

Career Center | No gobbledygook; company handbook is in plain English

By Molly Selvin The Los Angeles Times How much should a company's culture reflect its chief executive, especially one who prides himself on being blunt and innovative – and, some might say, abrasive? If you're new Tribune Co. CEO

Career Center | "Healthy Workplace Bill" would protect employees who feel the bite of a tormenting boss

Rebecca Morris Special to The Seattle Times In her nightmares, Jaymie Lennon's former boss calls her an idiot, undermines her confidence, tells other employees that Lennon is "unstable" and "mentally ill," and regularly threatens to fire her. Just, she

Career Center | Support builds for 5 paid weeks of family leave

By Ralph Thomas Seattle Times Olympia bureau OLYMPIA — A bill to give workers up to five weeks of paid family leave — which would be one of the most generous benefits in the nation — was approved Monday